Hero's Moon
by Dylan Millwood
Summary: Naruto always enjoyed looking up at the night sky to star gaze. Then one night, a meteor containing a certain gemstone changes his life forever. Armed with new powers and a powerful lineage, its time for this star gazer to become a Stargod!
1. Chapter 1

**5000 Years Ago**

A long time ago, a powerful mutant named En Sabah Nur, otherwise called Apocalypse, had been on a trail of bloody conquest throughout the known world. Many people both great and small fell to the man's might, and it looked as though Apocalypse would rule the entire planet. However, this all changed when he attempted to conquer a small island that was located off the main continent, which later became known as Japan. There, another mutant resided. However, unlike Apocalypse, this man used his powers only for the benefit of mankind believing that people needed to be brought together through peace and understanding, not violence and bloodshed as Apocalypse thought. The two super powered beings fought for three days and three nights, but in the end it was the dreadful Apocalypse that was driven off. The native mutant was revered as a hero and some even claimed him to be a god of sorts for his deeds. This man was a sage who went by the name Asura Ōtsutsuki.

Years pass, and while none of Asura's descendants showed signs of being mutants like Asura was, they all seemed to possess a stronger vitality than most humans, and they produced many strong and courageous clansmen and women. While Asura and his accomplishments have gone on to the realm of myth and legend, his legacy still lives on. This brings us to modern times…

 **Queens, New York**

A young blonde teenager by the name of Naruto Namikaze stared up at the stars in a field a little ways from his house through his new telescope in excitement. Naruto was a fifteen year old boy with spikey blonde hair, crystal blue eyes, and whisker shaped birthmarks on each cheek. He wore an orange hoodie with black cargo pants and orange sneakers. The boy, who had just gotten his new high-powered telescope for his birthday yesterday, had always loved the concept of astronomy, so the gift was much appreciated. Naruto's family had been deeply involved with the far reaches of space for several generations now, and Naruto hoped to one day follow in their footsteps.

In fact, both his parents were well noted astronauts that had gone on several out of orbit space missions in their lives. Unfortunately, when Naruto was six years old, his parents had been on the latest mission to the moon when their ship mysteriously disappeared. This left Naruto in the care of his godparents, Jiraiya and Tsunade Senju, and he'd been living with them ever since. Naruto, however, still hoped to find out what happened to his parents one day, and that added to his desire to study space.

Naruto could only whistle lowly as he saw the stars and planets become clear to him in the darkening night sky. While the light pollution from the city did block out much of the view, Naruto's godparents fortunately lived far enough out in the rural area of Queens that it didn't completely impair his stargazing. As Naruto continued to look into the starry heavens, and flash of light flickered across the lens of the telescope, catching his attention.

"Oh wow, a shooting star! I'd better make a wish," he chuckled the last part as he thought about what to wish for. 'I wish…that something truly exciting will happen soon!' he thought.

Suddenly, the 'shooting star' seemed to change direction and head…straight for him! With a startled yelp, Naruto dived out of the way as the now reviled small meteorite sailed over head, impacting into the trees behind him. Getting up and spitting out a mouthful of grass, Naruto could only gape at what happened. 'Was that…a meteorite?! What the hell, that should have burned up in the atmosphere or something!?' he wondered incredulously. Suddenly, an interesting idea formed in his head. 'Wait a second…no one is around and that impact was a bit too small to get people running here…If I hurry I can see a meteorite up close and personal before someone from the museum comes and takes it away. I'd better go check it out!'

With a course of action in mind, Naruto ran so fast over to the site of the crash he almost looked invisible. When he got there, Naruto skidded to a halt right at the edge of the crater made from the impact and he marveled at the size of it. "This thing has got to be the size of my house at least!" he noted as he measured the indentation. Looking down, Naruto was finally able to lay eyes on the chunk of space rock. The meteorite itself wasn't too big, about twice the size of the average baseball most likely from most of it burning up in the atmosphere while the rest broke off in the crash, but it was still a wonder to behold.

Quickly, Naruto whipped out his Smartphone and started taking pictures of it. He then remembered learning that some debris from space could be radioactive, Naruto brought up the Giger counter feature on his phone. With radioactive beings like the Hulk running around, the phone companies made a killing off of selling these types of apps for people who didn't want to get irradiated just from being too close to one of said beings, and also people who wanted to be warned when one of them decided to go on another rampage. While Naruto didn't really believe the app would be much use in that type of scenario, he was now grateful for his godmother for pushing him to get it. Naruto studied the readings from the cellular device, and was pleased to see that, while a small amount of radiation was being released, it wasn't anything worse than what one would expect from a UV flashlight. Wanting to get a closer look (all while ignoring the tiny voice in the back of his head telling him how stupid he was being while replaying the 1980's _The Blob_ in his mind), Naruto slid down the side of the crater and cautiously approached the now stationary rock.

Suddenly, with a deafening _crack_ , the meteor gained a long crack right down its center. Reeling back, Naruto fell right on his behind and watched as the crack seemed to spread over the surface of the rock like a cracking eggshell. 'Oh man, THAT can't be a good sign!' Naruto thought in a panic, wondering what would happen if he was caught out here with a destroyed meteorite. Would they blame him for its destruction? Before his imagination could get out of hand, the shards of the meteor fell apart, revealing a reddish glow that lite up the crater.

Despite all common sense telling him he should LEAVE NOW, Naruto couldn't help but feel drawn to the light. Getting up from the ground, the young Namikaze walked over and peered into the broken meteor. Inside the crumbled rock lay a beautiful red gemstone. Despite being from space, the precious mineral was perfectly cut into a rounded shape like it just came out of a jewelry store. Naruto, in a daze, reached out his hand towards the gem. Suddenly, the light vanished from the crater and Naruto blinked the daze out of his eyes.

"Man…must have blacked out there for a second," Naruto mumbled while shaking his head to clear the cobwebs. Looking back down at the now empty meteor, he wondered aloud, "Did…did I just imagine there being a jewel in that thing?"

Shrugging, Naruto figured he'd had enough sightseeing for the evening and quickly climbed back out of the hole. The blonde walked ten feet before he collapsed to his knees, clutching his chest in pain. "Holy shit! That hurts like a mother! What in the world-?!" he all but screamed out as he ripped at his hoodie to get it off in the hopes he'd be able to alleviate the searing heat that seemed to be originating from his chest before spreading to his body.

Finally removing the hoodie, Naruto stared with wide eyes at his now glowing chest. Or more specifically, the glowing red gemstone embedded _in_ his chest! "W-what in the-?!" he was cut off as another spasm of pain rocked his entire body.

"AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!" he howled in pain as he went from a kneeling position to down on his hands and knees, his eyes shut from the agony his body was experiencing. If he'd kept his eyes open, Naruto would have witnessed his body undergo a startling transformation! On the skin surrounding the embedded gemstone, veins started to rise up and pulse angrily as they spread across Naruto's body. White fur then started to spring up on the boy's person and even his blonde hair turned snowy white before growing out into a long mane. Naruto's nails broke apart as razor sharp inch long nails grew out of his fingertips, as well as his toes. Naruto's feet seemed to lengthen with a sickening _crack_ of bone, warping until the former blonde's legs now looked more like those of a canine species. His tailbone then lengthened before becoming covered in the same fur now covering his body, becoming a sweeping lupine tail. Naruto's muscles seemed to bulge out, and while not becoming bodybuilder sized, they were more defined like an Olympic gymnast. Finally, Naruto's head changed. Real whiskers sprouted out of his birthmarks as his ears stretched to the top of his head and became pointed. With another _crack_ , the boy's face lengthened as his teeth became pointed fangs, forming a muzzle complete with black nose.

The transformed Namikaze lay there for a minute or two, panting, before he rose up on his new legs and let out a long howl to the rising moon. As he howled, the boy's clothes which had been either ripped or discarded during the change, glowed with a strange light that emanated from the jewel still visibly fused into Naruto's chest (despite the fur). When the glow faded, Naruto's lupine form was wearing a new outfit. He now wore what almost looked to be a mix of a green tunic with matching shorts and golden armor. His arms and dog shaped legs now had golden gauntlets on them, and his tunic had matching shoulder guards. The werewolf like boy wore two belts, one around his waist that had another red gem for the buckle while the other was strapped across his torso like a bandolier with golden spikes jutting out from it. On his back rested a quiver full of golden colored arrows, while at his hip a jewel hilted golden sword lay in its sheath.

When the man-wolf stopped howling, he looked around with red eyes at his surroundings. He gave a growl like a wild animal looking for prey. But Naruto didn't even move a step before he brought a clawed hand to his head with a sharp whine. For an entire minute, Naruto thrashed his head around like there was a war waging inside his skull, and it wouldn't be that far from the truth. Suddenly, Naruto gave another howl but this one was much shorter and sounded almost human in some regards. When he finally opened his eyes, they were still red in color but lacked the feral nature they displayed earlier.

Naruto blinked and let out a groan, **[Ugh, my head-! That's the last time I try combining ice cream and ramen for dessert!]** he then let out a cough as he went to massage his throat. **[Man, what's up with my voice? It sounds like I'm gargling gravel!]**

As he rubbed his furry throat with his clawed hand, Naruto mused, **[Something feels…different. Why does it feel like I'm wearing a fur scarf and why...?]** He trailed off as he observed his hand, his _furry, clawed hand_ , and with widening eyes, quickly looked over as much of his body as he could, observing all the changes that had occurred and even went to feel his now lupine face. Naruto, placing his arms to his sides, stood completely still and quiet for several moments and then…

 **[AAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!]**

Unknown to Naruto, the gem he found was actually the Godstone, the crystallized power and essence of Stargod, an ancient ruler from a dimension called Other Realm. When Stargod was dying he opened a portal to Earth's moon and channeled his energy into the jewel, which had landed there millennia before following the destruction of the collection of power gems known as the Lifestone Tree. Ancient prophecies foretold that in evil times, Stargod would be reborn to save the people of Other Realm. Time passed, and a stray meteorite bounced off the surface of the moon, breaking off a chunk of the lunar body that contained the Godstone and sent it hurtling towards Earth where the hapless blonde found it. Currently, the energies of the Godstone transforming Naruto into the form of the Stargod, but the radiation that leaked through the portal to Other Realm was so weak that under any other circumstance, the change would only be partial. This would give most men the form, strength, and primal fury of Stargod, but would lack his wisdom and power.

However, Naruto proved that he was a descendant of Asura Ōtsutsuki this night. You see, while the X-gene that gave Asura his mutant abilities had remained dormant throughout his children and their children, it had not, however, disappeared. When the foreign energies of the Godstone flooded young Naruto's body, they interacted with the dormant gene and caused the two to mutate together. The energies of Stargod activated the X-gene while the gene itself acted as a buffer of sorts for the energies, substituting for the diluted radiation of the Other Realm. This, in turn, gave Naruto full control of all the powers of Stargod, plus the ability to maintain all his cognitive functions. As Naruto stood in his new form and silently marveled over it by the light of the full moon, no one on earth could have predicted that on this October night a new hero was born. One that would show the universe that Stargod, and the will of Asura Ōtsutsuki, still lived!


	2. Chapter 2

**AUTHOR NOTES:**

 **This is for those who don't know who Stargod is.**

 **Comic appearinces (sorry for the low r** **esolution):** **www . spiderfan characters/ images/ manwolf/ manwolf _ covers . jpg**

 **Powers:** **Stargod possesses superhuman strength and some energy manipulation powers, both of which the limits of are unknown. Stargod is also able speak telepathically and is able to** **survive in the vacuum of space. As well as possessing** **Superhuman Strength,** **Superhuman Speed,** **Superhuman Agility,** **Superhuman Stamina** , **and Superhuman Durability to where he was able to survive great falls and concussive blows with minimal injury; A Regenerative Healing Factor that allowed him to fully recover from gunshot wounds within a month, Superhumanly Acute Senses as he possesses the senses of a true wolf; as such, he is able to see partially into the infrared range, enabling him to see in the dark, and his hearing also enables him to track his quarry across any terrain. Finally, Stargod's teeth and claws are hard and sharp enough to rend a variety of substances, such as wood, soft metals, and even cinderblock. Also, as he is not a true supernatural werewolf, Stargod is not subject to the conventional limitations of lycanthropy, such as a weakness to silver.**

 **Bio:**

 **Stargod was the benevolent and much-loved ruler of the Extra-dimentional world known as "Other-Realm" for an unknown period of time. Eventually, Stargod grew old and weak. To spare his world from his decay, he opened a portal into Earth-616 and went to Earth's moon to die. He left behind his essence in the form of an** **other-dimensional ruby** **,** **the Godstone, which remained on the moon long after his body had disintegrated.**

 **Centuries later, w** **hile he was on the Moon, astronaut John Jameson found the mystical Godstone. The jewel grafted itself to his throat and extended tendrils through his body. Moonlight activated the gem, which transformed him into the lycanthropic Man-Wolf,** **a powerful and violent wolf-like humanoid. For months Jameson tried and failed to stop the transformations, eventually stalking his own father, Jameson and then-fiance, Kristine Saunders. Spider-Man intervened and fought the Man-Wolf, eventually ripping the moonstone from the creature's throat. Jameson reverted to his human form, seemingly cured.**

 **Later, Morbius reattached the moonstone to Jameson so that he could use the Man-Wolf as a pawn in a scheme to cure himself of his vampiric illness, a scheme that was thwarted by Spider-Man. Now Jameson transformed into the Man-Wolf whenever the moon was above the horizon. As the moon waned from its full phase the Man-Wolf's strength diminished and more of Jameson's intelligence emerged. On the run for being AWOL, the Man-Wolf fought Kraven and the Hatemonger before Jameson finally surrendered to the authorities. Unaware of his condition, they offered to drop charges against him if he would investigate a communications blackout on an orbiting space station. Jameson discovered the station had been seized by warriors from the extradimensional Other Realm, the origin point of his moonstone. They convinced him to return with them.**

 **In the Other Realm, Jameson retained his personality and intelligence as the Man-Wolf. The Realmites told him his moonstone was created centuries ago by their dying lupine Stargod to pass his powers on to his successor. On Earth it could only partly transform Jameson into the new Stargod. The Man-Wolf helped the Realmites defeat the tyrant Arisen Tyrk and then used his powers to return to Earth. Again subject to the partial effects of the moonstone, the Man-Wolf was kidnapped and controlled by Spencer Smythe in an attempt to get revenge on Jameson and Spider-Man. When Smythe tried to destroy the Man-Wolf, his moonstone teleported him to another dimension where he again became the Stargod. The Man-Wolf returned briefly to the Other Realm and, with the aid of the She-Hulk and Hellcat, saved it from destruction by relocating the planet into another dimension. Although he had begun to enjoy being the Stargod, Jameson decided to return to Earth. There he could not remember the Other Realm or the Stargod and allowed Spider-Man and Dr. Curt Conners to administer a biomagnetic treatment that caused his body to reject the moonstone, which crumbled to powder. Once more Jameson ceased transforming into the Man-Wolf.**

 **After recovering in a sanitorium, Jameson became Captain America's pilot. Eventually he was contacted by the villain Dredmund Druid. Jameson attempted to defeat Dredmund himself, but was overpowered and temporarily transformed into a werewolf that greatly resembled his Man-Wolf form. Dredmund reassembled the moonstone and attempted to use it, but was defeated by Captain America and the moonstone was destroyed again. Disheartened, Jameson resigned as Cap's pilot. He tried being a freelance monster-hunter, but gave this up when Dr. Ashley Kafka offered him the post of Security Chief at Ravencroft, a security asylum for holding criminally insane superhumans. Ravencroft's history was tumultuous, marred by hostage takings, multiple escapes, a temporary closure, and unsuccessful attempts to rehabilitate its inmates. Eventually both Kafka and Jameson were fired.**

 **Shortly after, Jameson began to exhibit abnormal behaviour (as a result of being unknowingly mind controlled by the villain Jack O' Lantern). Under hypnotherapy to discover the cause, Jameson temporarily reverted to his Man-Wolf form. He was seemingly cured and resumed his human form. At some point Jameson's memory of his adventures as the Stargod returned and he revealed this to Jennifer Walters (the She-Hulk) while they were on a lunch date together. Jameson and Walters became lovers and eventually moved in together, along with Walters' coworker Agustus Pugliese.**

 **Recently She-Hulk's love for Jameson was intensified without her knowledge by Eros of Titan. While in this state the two eloped to Las Vegas and got married. Word of their marriage infuriated Alistair Smythe (son of the late Spencer Smythe) who blamed the Jameson family for his father's death. Smythe injected Jameson with an unknown liquid that triggered his change back into the savage Man-Wolf. This time Jameson was contacted by a mysterious voice encouraging him to stop fighting the power that was once again being offered to him. Jameson did so and again became the Stargod even while on Earth, no longer subject to the previous limitations of the Man-Wolf form. At the same time, the love whammy on She-Hulk was removed, cooling her affection for new husband, although Jameson's love for She-Hulk remains strong. Although the two are still married, they are spending time apart for reasons not yet disclosed. Stargod is travelling to the Other Realm to check on its status.**

* * *

The Man-Wolf being that was formally Naruto Namikaze continued to panic.

 **"What the hell is happening?! Lycanthropy?! But that's suppossed to be...ho, who am I kidding!? In a world full of absurd superpowers, super-science, and mystical arts; why can't werewolves exist?!"**

Naruto clutched at his heart as he took several deep breaths, trying to calm down.

 **"Ok, Naruto...ok...relax, take a moment to stop and think..."**

Naruto froze. What the...? He could hear normally, but when he tried to talk, him mouth didn't move like it should when he spoke, yet he could hear his own voice, and it was more like he was hearing vibrations inside his skull, not the regular sounds. It was as if his mind was vibrating like a strummed cord and projecting what he wanted to say directly.

But how was that...? His eyes widened, " **Telepathy? I can use telepathy?! What the HECK is going on?!"**

He looked down at himself. Armor...broadsword... dagger...a short bow and arrows. Sheesh, Naruto felt like he belonged in a Renaissance festival.

 **"A sworld-weilding, white werewolf in boots and armor, carrying a bow and arrows, and uses telepathy to talk? I feel like a Dungions & Dragons character or something! What happened to me?!" **He wondered, then his eyes strayed to the glowing red gemstone embedded there.

It was blaringly, stupidly obvious that it was responsible for what was happening to him. He reached for it and tried pulling it off but when he tried, he yelped as his new claws―it still freaked him out he had claws!―knicked his hide.

 **"...Ok, really gonna need to get used to these things..."** he groused to himself, eyeing the claws on his fingers. He wished they were retractable. With a sigh, Naruto looked up, wondering why the stars he loved so dearly had forsaken and condemed him to this beastial state. If this were the lycanthropy of folkloric tales, he would merely need to wait until the first light of dawn, but as it stood with this jewel that came from a metiorite being what caused it, he doubted that may or may not work.

He carefully gathered up his ruined clothing, went back over to his telescope and carfully collapsed that as well.

What was he suppossed to do now? It wasn't like he could go through New York looking like this. That wouldn't end well. But with New York being as island, there weren't any real places he could go to avoid people. In New York, everything seemed close. Didn't matter how big the city was; as long as you weren't stupid and you payed attention, you could be safe.

Helped that there were superheros like Spider-Man in this city, too.

However; big, close together, full of people, and not really anywhere to go weren't what he needed right now. Matter of fact, other than 'big', it was the exact opposite.

 **"What am I gonna do?"** Naruto sighed.

If the jewel being attached to him was the source of this, then the logical, pragmatic thing was that removing it would allow him to change back to normal. Problem being, he had no idea how.

Naruto glanced around nervously, worried someone might spot him with his...'furry little problem'. Luckily, the area he and his family lived in was more rural than other parts of Queens, so people had yet to come check out the area for the meteor. Not wanting to push his luck though, he hurriedly snuck off to his house, grateful he was considered a ninja-like sneak by many of his friends due to pranks he'd sometimes pull when he was younger.

Gathering up his things, he decided he at least needed to at least get home. He could try figuring something out away from any prying eyes there. That was a start.

With a sigh, the werewolf took his ruined pre-transformation clothing and telescope and made his way back to where he lived. One good thing about this body was enhanced senses.

It certainly helped since he didn't want to be seen.

As Naruto moved through an alleyway, trying to avoid people who he knew would instantly cause a city-wide panic at seeing a werewolf walking down the street, he couldn't help but hear people talking to each other, the loud sounds of the city, and constant noises of the cars and don't even get him started on the different smells he was sniffing, he guessed it all came with the whole werewolf package and thought to himself _, 'Once I get back home and hopefully change back to normal, I can figure out what's up with this gemstone in my chest and how to safely get it out.'_

As he continued, Naruto suddenly stoped in his tracks and overheard what he could guess was someone in trouble and went in that direction and hid when he made it there and saw that he was right as he saw a girl as she was being cornered by three thugs. The girl in question looked his age and stood at 5'7, had blue eyes, blonde hair, and was wearing a long brown coat, a black shirt, light blue skirt and matching brown boots.

"Hey...ain't this the daughter of that retired cop?" One of the thugs asked.

"...Yeah...Captain George Stacy, right? Old man busted some of our boys." A fat, bald thug said.

Naruto froze. Ho no...she was an ex-cop's daughter?! No way would those guys just walk away...

Oh man...where were guys like Spider-Man right now?! This was about to get really ugly! What was Naruto suppossed to do in a situation like this?! He was just a...

Oh. Right...werewolf.

Wait a minute! Maybe he could scare those three off then!

As soon as that crazy thought crossed his mind, Naruto furiously shook his head to dispell it. What was he thinking?! This wasn't any reason to risk his life over.

But his conscience kept him rooted in place. Wanting an answer for why he was acting like a coward. After all, he could at least do _something_ like this, right?

 **"I don't know how to fight...they've probabbly got weapons...I'd be outnumbered..."** he muttered, trying to convince himself, but as he did so, he heard the thugs again.

"Hey beautiful, don't ya know it's dangerous to go out this late at night?" the bald thug said while occasionally attempting to feel the girl's breasts.

"Yeah, didn't your cop daddy teach you that you need some big, strong men to help ya, and we're just the guys to keep you safe, for a price...hehehe..." The slimmer thug said as he kept leering at the girl like she was a prime piece of meat.

They meant to rape her...

That did it! Naruto, werewolf or not, had seen all he could stand! So, too mad to care if the girl saw him in his current state, set down the load he was carrying and came out of his hiding place, **"Hey morons! She isn't interested, so back off and no one gets hurt!"**

The three thugs looked at Naruto, "Oi, what do we got here? A humanoid Hyena?" the skinny thug said as he grabbed a steel pipe from behind his back.

One of the trio went over and waved a hand in front of Naruto's face, "Eh, it's just some doofus in a costume. Just a Holloween nut. Nothing to worry about. Completely fake."

Naruto then grabbed the thug's hand at the wrist and brought it to his face, opening his mouth and chomping down.

"Aaaaaaagggghhhh!"

Spitting the hand out of his mouth, Naruto looked down at the now one-handed goon as he writhed on the ground, clutching his bloody stump. **"That fake?"** Naruto asked.

"You gonna regret doing that, poochie..." the fat, bald thug snarled as he pulled out a couple box cutters from his pockets.

Naruto growled, **"Okay then, but just remember, I gave you three a chance."** With that, Naruto suddenly lunged at the nearest thug who happened to be the fat, bald one and began to punch him repeatedly before the skinny thug tried to hit the Namikaze werewolf in the back with his pipe and accidentally hit his own partner, and then they both then tried to rush the werewolf together, but with his new abilities, Naruto suddenly jumped up and over their heads and then he grabbed the now one-handed goon of the trio by the ankle. He then turned and swung the injured man at his companions. Knocking them into wall of the ally and the man he'd used as a makeshift weapon slumped, clearly unconscious.

As the fight continued, Gwen Stacy was watching the whole thing with shock and fear as the werewolf just might go after her but it also seemed to be fighting to protect her if what it spoke was of any indication (a werewolf, and a talking one, at that!) of it's intentions. As the werewolf continued beating on the thugs, she pulled out her Smartphone and started recording all of this.

Meanwhile back in the fight Naruto was basically having a field day with the remaining two thugs as he covered the top of the fat one's head with his own jacket.

Then the skinny thug tried again to knock Naruto's block off from behind, but Naruto smelled him coming and dodged it, then began to dance around the thug who tried to hit Naruto again, but he grabbed the pipe and began to spin around with the thug still holding into the pipe yelped to his partner, "Hey Boris, he's fighting dirty!" as Naruto finally let go and watched as the skinny thug went flying into Boris and the two slammed into a nearby wall and as the two thugs recovered, they both saw Naruto coming and did the only smart thing they ever did... Ran for their miserable lives.

Naruto nodded. **"Well...that takes care of that. Not bad for my first fight."** Then he remembered the girl and turned around to her, praying she wouldn't panic. **"Uh...you're not hurt, are you? Look, I know I look freaky, but I'm not going to hurt you."**

The girl blinked before raising her camera, "Cheese."

Naruto was blinded by a flash of light, **"Gah!"** He rubbed his eyes with the base of his palms to avoid harming himself with his own claws, **"You could've warned me!"**

"I did." the girl replied with a small smile.

Naruto grumbled a bit as he kept rubbing his eyes, but then he suddenly froze when a hand gently scratched the fur along his neck and head, then the hand coming to rest between his wolf form's ears and gave them a good scratching. Lowering his hands, Naruto saw it was the girl he'd rescued that was doing it.

The girl grinned and began actively scratching his ears, watching Naruto's eyes become half-lidded by the affectionate touches. "Thanks for the help. You know, you're a good bodyguard...or is it guard dog?...I'm now tempted to put a collar on you and chain you up in my backyard as a pet." she teased.

 **"Not...funny...oh god, please stop...can't...take that..."** Naruto whimpered at the gentle touches being applied to his new ears.

The girl just laughed. "Like that, huh? Guess you're a canine, after all. Well, like I said, thanks for the help. My name's Gwen Stacy. Nice to meet you."

After a minute, she stopped scratching his ears and Naruto actually felt like she really have to stop? It felt so good! Wait...did he just...?! Naruto felt like groaning.

"So...mind walking a girl home?"

 **"You're kidding, right?"** Naruto asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

In response, Gwen raised her Smartphone and turned the screen to him to show him both her video recording of the fight with the thugs he'd fended off as well as the picture of him she'd taken afterwards. "Wonder how this'd look online?" she said.

She was blackmailing him?!

"Hey...my dad's an ex-police cheif, and there's a lot of criminals, superpowered and normal, that run around this city. Is it really so strange I want a bit of security for a little while?" Gwen explained.

Naruto would have frowned if he still could. All things considered, that wasn't without reason. **"...Where to, then?"** he sighed.

"Forest Hills...and no, you can't mark your terretory around there." Gwen said, causing Naruto to scowl and a growl rumbled up from his chest, a combination that was actually frightening.

"Kidding! Kidding!" Gwen said, ok...so the werewolf found that last joke offensive.

 **"Fine. Just wait here a second..."** Naruto told her, then went back and gathered his things and stuffed as much of them as he could into the quiver on his back that had the arrows in it before going back to the girl he had helped.

"Hmmmm...if I know horror movies, guessing these were what you were wearing before the whole wolf thing?" Gwen asked, studying the ripped-up clothes, not paying any mind to the telescope that was in it along with them.

Naruto rolled his eyes. Ok...how was he going to avoid being spotted if he had to walk this girl to her house? He looked up at the walls of the alley, wishing he could stick to walls like Spider-Man could. would make this so much easier. As that thought passed through his mind, he recalled something from an old cartoon show he used to watch when he was younger; one with a bunch of living Gargoyles. If he remembered right, they could climb up building with their claws...

 **"Hold on...if you're serious about this, then I'll need to try something..."** he told Gwen before going over to the side of the alleyway, Naruto used his new claws and easily punctured the wall and climbed up it hand and foot like a ladder until he reached the rooftop.

 **"Huh...well, I'll be...it worked."** he said. Looking down over the edge of the building he waved to Gwen, **"I'll have to follow you from up here. Can't be seen walking the streets without causing a panic. Anyone gives you trouble, I'll jump down and get them, ok?"**

"Deal!" she called up, then started walking, Naruto following her, climbing, lunging, and leaping from roof to roof as needed, surprised that he could do such things. Must have been this werewolf body...he wasn't all that graceful, however...maybe if he found a way to turn back to normal, he'd look into some light parkour?

Fortunatly, no one bothered the girl he was being made to escort and the unlikely pair soon arrived in a neighborhood Naruto knew well...after all, he lived around the area. They'd reached forest Hills, and like always, he felt the place lived up to it's name. It was bordered to the north by Rego Park, to the east by Flushing Meadows Park and Kew Gardens, to the west by Middle Village and to the south by Forest Park. The neighborhood was home to a mix of lower-middle to upper-class residents, the latter of whom often lived in the neighborhood's prestigious Forest Hills Gardens area. Furthermore, the place was in proximity to both JFK International and LaGuardia airports.

Springing for a tree from the roomtop he currently stood on, Naruto realized that he'd misjudged the jump and got the brantch he'd been aiming for in the gut, winding him for his trouble. An instant later, he heard a crunching snap and yelped as the branch gave out under his weight. With a yelp, he fell to the ground and a thud announced when he landed facedown.

He couldn't feel anything busted with his body, but oh man...please don't let that impact have messed up his telescope...

Pushing himself up, Naruto suddenly felt a set of hands on him as their owner helped him, accompanied by a light laugh, "Heheheh...guess that tree didn't agree with you, big guy. You ok?" Gwen asked, helping him back to his feet as Naruto groaned.

 **"Yeah...still...not fun..."** Ok...from this point on, he'd just stick to using the trees as cover rather than jumping through them.

As Gwen and Naruto walked towards the street of her home, Gwen suddenly spoke up, "Hey, maybe I can keep you as a pet? I mean, all we have to do is strip you naked, then I get a collar on your neck and you pretend to just act like a dog. I would feed you, take you for walks, give you a bath, groom you, and you can sleep at the foot of my bed, what do you think?"

Gwen realized she must've been thinking out loud, since when she turned, she saw the werewolf already twenty yards away from her and still running.

"Yeesh...took me seriously? I mean, I get why he would, but..." she couldn't help but shake her head with a smile, it was too funny. As she got to her front door, Gwen pulled out her phone and opened up that picture she'd taken after those thugs had gotten beat and looked at it curiously. "...Wonder who that White Knight-Wolf actually is? I mean, when not a werewolf? If they're anything like the stories, then have to be human during the day, right? Wonder who."

* * *

After Naruto stopped running when he finally got home and attempted to erase what Gwen suggested that he become her personal pet from his mind, he reached into the pocket of his ruined pants and withdrew his house key. Putting it to use and entering through the back door, Naruto breathed a sigh of relief as Jiraiya and Tsunade weren't home yet. The two sometimes went on trips for work, and would be gone for a couple days at a time, and had allowed him to be home alone during said trips nearly two years ago. So that gave him at least twenty-four hours to figure out what the hell happened to him and how to get back to normal. Glancing over to the door to the garage with all of Jiraiya's tools, Naruto cracked his furry knuckles and got ready to get to work.

A few hours later, however, Naruto was laying down on top of his bed in a defeated manner with bent and ruined knives, screwdrivers, tongs, sawblades and the like surrounding him. He had tried everything he could think of, but NOTHING WORKED! Not even a scratch on the damned gemstone, as Naruto looked at his chest, he saw the gemstone seemingly mocking him...

Turning away from the gemstone, Naruto looked out his window at the night sky, and for once, glared up at the stars he loved so dearly.

 **"Why did you do this to me, guys?"** The Namikaze asked the points of glimmering light in the dark heavens, **"I mean, I know I wished that something truly exciting would happen, but I never asked for being a werewolf!"**

He slumped on his bed. What was going on?! How and why had this happened?! Too many questions, no way to answer them...and it was way too late at night.

 **"Try figuring it out in the morning...just hope the whole bit about turning back to normal at dawn is true..."** he muttered to himself.

That small bit of hope being all he had to cling to, the star-gazer closed his eyes and rested.


	3. Author Note: The King Is Dead

**I know this isn't an update, but I felt it needed posting in my Marvel stories. Thing is, just learned today that Stan Lee, Marvel Comics godfather himself, died at 95.**

 **Loved and followed his work every step of my life, so just wanted to say farewell to a creative genius and a icon.**

 **Good-bye, Stan Lee. Loved the universe you created with Marvel. You will be missed.**

 **Rest In Peace and** **Excelsior!**


End file.
